William Carrier doesn’t need to fill up the scoresheet to matter for the Carolina Hurricanes. His value lives in the bruises he leaves behind, the pace he sets on the fourth line, and the way he can change a shift just by throwing his body around.
Last season, Carolina got a healthier version of Carrier, and that made a real difference. He stayed in the lineup far more often than he had in the previous few years, and the result was exactly what the Hurricanes wanted: more games, more hits, and enough offense to keep things moving with Eric Robinson and Mark Jankowski on the fourth line.
Carrier finished with 172 hits, which led the team and marked his best total since he had 213 with Vegas in 2019-20. He registered at least one hit in all but eight of the games he played, which is about as clear a sign as you can ask for that he was doing his job shift after shift.
On the scoring side, he chipped in seven goals and 11 assists, which was solid production for the role he plays. At the end of the season in Chicago, he had a three-assist game - the first three-assist, point-filled night of his career.
The playoffs followed a similar script for a while. Carrier was held off the scoresheet through the first two rounds, then found a little more room in the Eastern Conference Finals.
He picked up assists in Games 1, 2 and 5, including the aerial flip that set up Robinson’s breakaway goal. His other assist in that stretch came in Game 2 against Vegas, when he helped set up Jankowski’s tying goal.
If the offense was modest, the physical edge was anything but. In 19 playoff games, Carrier piled up 91 hits, good for just under five per game and third in the league overall.
He had 12 hits in Game 2 against Ottawa and another 12 in Game 2 against Philadelphia. By the end of it all, he had the last laugh against his former team, lifting the Stanley Cup in Vegas for the second time.
That’s the template Carolina can live with in Year 3 of his six-year deal. Carrier is not the kind of player you pencil in for big scoring totals, and expecting a repeat of the 16-goal season he had in 2022-23 with the Golden Knights would be chasing an outlier. What the Hurricanes need is much simpler: keep him healthy and let him keep doing the heavy work that makes the fourth line such a problem for opponents.
Health has been the big variable. Carrier was limited to 43 games in 2024-25 and played only 39 in his final season with Vegas, so last year’s availability mattered. When he’s in the lineup, Carolina’s fourth line is stronger, and a group already built on grit becomes even tougher to handle, especially with Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook in the mix.
Carrier is still just one-third of the way through the contract he signed, and while his cap hit rose slightly this season to $2.15 million, he remains a manageable piece for Carolina. He turns 32 in December, and there’s still room for him to keep bringing the same brand of hard-nosed hockey to a Hurricanes fourth line that remains one of the best in the league.
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Jarvis has been recovering on schedule, which at least keeps the timeline moving in the right direction for Carolina. He was given a four- to six-month recovery window after the surgery, so the earliest realistic return sits later in the fall, leaving the Hurricanes to navigate the opening stretch without much certainty about when their top-six piece will be available again. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Fans Finally Get Their First Real Taste Of The New Season
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There is at least one immediate way for fans to get in on the action, though, with the Prospect Showcase set for Sept. 17 and 18 at the Wake Competition Center. Admission is free, and live feeds will be available online, giving supporters a first extended peek at the organizations young talent before the team shifts its attention to the preseason opener at the renovated Lenovo Center on Sept. 22 and a follow-up game in Greensboro. [Read more 🡒]